Discover how Poetic Unity is transforming norms with healing and powerful poetry. Poetic Unity addresses mental health, community cohesion, and challenges traditional societal expectations of masculinity. Join us as we dive into a refreshing conversation about the potential for creativity and vulnerability to revolutionize humanitarian work and leadership.
Don’t miss your opportunity to dream into this episode and reflect if these unconventional approaches can lead to profound changes in the international humanitarian sector.
Transcript
0:00-1:04
Intro
00:01:04 Lars Peter Nissen: This week's episode of Humanitarian is unusual. It's a short conversation with Ryan, Tariq, and Blaze, three young spoken word artists I met at the Humanitarian Exchange Conference in February. We taped the episode in a rather noisy Conference Center, so the sound quality, unfortunately, is not as good as we would have liked it to be. But I think you'll forgive us that because it's a great and very powerful conversation. The three poets work with a charity called Poetic Unity. It was founded by Ryan nine years ago, and the idea is to use poetry as a tool to support young people's mental health, education, personal development, physical health, and community cohesion. At the conference, HX, as always, we spoke about localization and shifting the power and all of that stuff. But when we heard the poems from the three guys, you really felt power in the room shifting, shifting away from the normal talking heads such as myself, and replacing the normal discourse with an authentic, deeply personal, powerful call for change. You have heard many times on this show a call for new, radically different solutions. I think Poetic Unity is a very concrete and beautiful example of that. I don't know which role spoken word artists can play in the future of humanitarian action. Maybe it's about developing a new language that can unlock new insights, mobilize new groups in society. Maybe it is to call bullshit on what already exists and needs to change. Or maybe, and probably, it is a whole bunch of things I haven't thought about yet. No matter what, we need to build a broad coalition with new actors, and Poetic Unity is a good example of that. As always, it would be great if you could like the episode, share it around with colleagues and friends, make noise on social media, you know the drill. Most importantly, enjoy the conversation.
Ryan Matthews Robinson, Blaze Alexis Angling, and Tarik Brown, welcome to Trumanitarian.
3:18 Ryan Matthews Robinson, Blaze Alexis Angling, and Tarik Brown: Thank you for having us.
3:19 Lars Peter Nissen: We are here in the London Business Design Center, squeezed in between a gardening conference. I saw some really nice lawnmowers actually down there. And on the other side is a humanitarian exchange, and the three of you are here for a humanitarian exchange. What is it you're doing here?
3:41 Ryan Matthews Robinson: So, we're part of an organization called Poetic Unity, which is a charity based in Brixton. We use poetry to support young people across the UK by providing spaces and opportunities for them to reach their highest potential. And we've got three of our amazing poets performing today. One is Blaze, one is Tariq, and one is Aisha, who is coming later on.
4:03 Lars Peter Nissen: Yeah, I mean, it's not normal for us to have poets at humanitarian conferences. And I guess for you, this must be the first one you had. So Blaze, what's your first take on what this is? You did a fantastic, powerful poem this morning that spoke to all of us after a more traditional humanitarian panel I would say. You came in, you blew the roof off. It was really great. What's in your head? You meet all of us, quote on quote “humanitarians”. What are you thinking?
4:33 Blaze Alexis Angling: I'm thinking in terms of everyone coming here together for the rights of humans and the rights of the people is beautiful. That's the main thing for me, making sure that everyone is together within a purpose, and that purpose being truth, that purpose being allowing people in all walks of life to have the same lived experience of equality and equity, equity specifically. So seeing this type of event and then seeing it being open to creativity, because I feel like creatives, poets, artists, actors, like singers, they have a very different look on the world. They see the world for what it is, and they have a lot of feelings that they want to let out of their chest that they can't necessarily do in other mediums, other forms. So to see a space like this allowing paintings, allowing poetry, it excites me for the future.
5:34 Lars Peter Nissen: I would say for us who normally go to these things, it gives hope, and it's a relief that we don't just sit here and intellectually reflect again and again on what the problems are, but that we have your take on it, you as artists, as poets, to help us move in the direction of a new language, I think. Ryan, you founded Poetic Unity. What's your origin story there? If you're the superhero among poets, what's your origin story?
5:58 Ryan Matthews Robinson: There's a long story and there's a short version, so I'll give the short one. As a young person in school, I was marginalized by teachers. My voice wasn't heard, I received racism from teachers. I was suspended numerous times for, in my opinion, having a personality. And that really shaped me as a person. And when I got older, and I saw the need for this type of work. But what really sparked that as well for me was my grandma being diagnosed with dementia. That also changed my life as well and seeing her kind of help me find my purpose in an even more constructive way. So when she, yes, when she got diagnosed with dementia, I was like, I need to do something. I need to give something back. And I started doing that by supporting the Alzheimer's Society, raising money for that charity, and speaking to young people about dementia so more people could know about what it is and what it's doing and also, I guess, for me, a bit of healing for myself, do you understand? With what happened to my grandma. So I volunteered for them for four years. I learned about the charity sector, and then I found poetry when I was 25. I was doing music before then, but I found poetry when I was 25, and I was like, wow, this is an amazing way for me to actually have a voice again, like I didn't have when I was a teenager. Do you know what I mean? So like, that really spoke to me. And I was like, actually, this could actually help other young people in terms of like making sure they feel like they have a voice. So Poetic Unity literally started mainly because I didn't have a voice when I was young, and I wanted to make sure other young people had that voice, and poetry was always the medium for that. And also, at that time, a lot of young people's spaces were being closed, like youth provisions and whatnot. So I felt like it was even more needed that we create safe spaces for young people. So that's why Poetic Unity originally started, mainly because of my experience as a young person. A big up to my grandparents, my granddad, and my grandma; they really helped me find my purpose. But also because I feel like youth provisions are just getting closed down left, right, and center, so it felt like I needed to do this, and to this day, it's nine years old now. We turned nine yesterday, which is the 19th.
8:25 Lars Peter Nissen Congratulations!
8:27 Ryan Matthews Robinson: Yeah, thank you, 19th of February. And yeah, so we're here to, that's what we're here for now. And I think for me, it's grown over the years, obviously. But the origin of it was helping young people find their voice, creating safe spaces for young people, and also allowing young people to reach their highest potential and have agency, yes.
8:41 Lars Peter Nissen: Agency, yeah. We had a conversation on Skype before we met in person, and I said to you that what came out so powerfully about the way you spoke about Poetic Unity was that you give agency to people, you give voice to people. And I think for me, that's what I get from you guys being here. It is that intensity from a person who has something at stake, something you want to share, not something you read in the paper, not something that is about UN resolutions, but about what's in your heart. And I think when you, as I do and as a lot of the other participants here do, work with… we're professional human experience, whatever that means, right? I mean, that's how we're living, we make good money being good people. That's, there's a perversion in that somehow, right? And then to get out of the lock frames and the systems and to hear your voices so clearly, that for me personally is very powerful. And I think we have to find a new language. If we are to mobilize a million people, as the purpose of this conference is, we're not going to mobilize a million people by speaking UN language.
10:03 Ryan Matthews Robinson: Is that a new language spoken word?
10:05 Lars Peter Nissen: Its part of it…I think. It's part of it, yeah, I think. I think we need to reshape the humanitarian narrative, and we can do things through art and poetry, I think, that you can’t in a more sterile corporate environment. Exactly right. Tariq, why don't you tell us how you got involved with Poetic Unity?
10:24 Tarik Brown: That's a good question. Well, it actually started... Well I wasn't actually in this country when I came across Poetic Unity, which I think is quite a unique first encounter. Poetic Unity does a Poets' Corner Online event on Instagram every single Wednesday. So that was my first chance to perform a piece of poetry I had written just in my room after work. I wanted to showcase some of my skills, what I thought were skills, and just the space. The space was very welcoming. Usually, when I go to events that are more creative, it's more a showcase of talent. There's a little bit of competition, but I felt that this space was more for you to share and more for it to be appreciated. So that was the first time I met Poetic Unity online, and then it was coming back from abroad, and I actually applied to work as a cultural leader and was blessed to receive this opportunity. And here I am today.
11:26 Lars Peter Nissen: Yeah. And so on a day-to-day basis, you come to events like this, you go out, you perform. How do you work with Poetic Unity? What is it you actually do when you engage?
11:36 Tarik Brown: Yeah, I guess I'll take that question. It varies. I think the fundamental aspect of Poetic Unity, and I'm sure Ryan can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's to support people and provide them a space where they can express themselves. One of the models that really resonate with me is giving a voice to the voiceless. I feel like a lot of young people have refreshing perspectives of the world, but they can be overlooked because we still think that age and experience are the things that trump, and this is similar to what Blaze was saying about creativity. It allows you to communicate different perspectives to a different set of audiences. So that's what we do. We go into schools, we use poetry to open up young men, we speak to them about identity and anti-misogyny, or then it could be our events that we do at the Black Cultural archives where we provide a space for the community to come together and share some of their work as well. So we like to try and be as versatile as possible because we know that other people have different needs, and that's what we try to commit to every time that we throw an event for sure.
12:48 Lars Peter Nissen: So I'm feeling like maybe we're actually committing the sin that humanitarians always commit. We sit here and intellectualize. I think we should hear some of your art. And so you're up, Blaze. Can we have a little sample, please.
12:59 Ryan Matthews Robinson: Mr. Blaze!
13:03 Blaze Alexis Angling: Sure thing, sure thing. So there's a saying, "Power tends to corrupt," but I believe that power is no more evil than fire or physics, but when it's backed by greed and ego, you get the current state of politics. I believe the ones in power are more focused on the love of power than the power of love, because if you had some empathy for each and every human, you wouldn't subject innocence to drone strikes above. I believe we're being misrepresented. I see laws being passed that go against the promotion of human welfare, and the ones in need are constantly being neglected. You see, I believe everyone has a choice. You can subscribe to the dynamics that damage the current world, or you can campaign for a change and use the power within your voice. Power is the willingness to learn from the world around you, not being a slave to the mistakes of history, listening to all walks of life to create a world that's right and without neglect, and greeting everyone from the janitor to the CEO with respect. How was working with love?
14:09 Lars Peter Nissen: Thank you, Blaze. Excellent. Tariq, what do you have for us?
14:19 Tarik Brown: Problems persist in disconnection, blinded by class and nationalism and capitalism, the isms and schisms, ideological psychological warfare, where connecting on the basis of humanity is insanity. Well, they'll call me a liberal for saying I love people, and a radical for standing up for what I said. Blinded by no grace, we set the scene for a million mistakes. Sometimes I like to manifest my hopes and dreams in the shower, candid places of comfort that breed inspirational ideas by the hour. I've aimed so high that my sky isn't blue. Then I think of the young man who dreams in the same way that I do, but for the sake of his survival, he must leave his thoughts idle where dreams are left as dreams because the rifles never sleep, and the concrete buildings are as timid as leaves. A human being controlling the drones on a screen miles away from the violence and the screams. Connected, we are. We let our children play the lives of this very same shooter in video games and virtual reality, numbing the brutality of wars where child mortality is just another number on the casualties.
15:32 Lars Peter Nissen: Powerful, fantastic. Yeah, and the über poet himself, Ryan, you have something off the top of your head to share?
15:38 Ryan Matthews Robinson: Oh, all right I will share something. You see, this one here is for anyone that is suffering. Anyone who's going through the constant demands of life. Don't give up, please. Let me be your motivation. Let me be the reason why you get up in the morning and fill in that job application because you're somebody. You're somebody who can make somebody happy every time you smile. So don't be afraid to show off those pearly wax. Also, make sure you look after yourself and have some early nights. Cause life is mad, yeah, it could turn upside down any second. I know it feels like you're on a rollercoaster of emotions and never seem to be letting go, but buckle up, everybody. It's how you deal with it; you gotta take control. And I know it's not easy, especially in a society that makes men feel weak every time they speak on their depression. Yeah, I want to put a stop to this top myth that men are putting up like a locksmith as some sort of weakness because it's the ones who speak less usually end up in a deep mess. Who are you fooling? We're all human beings, and imagine if all of us stopped talking.
16:43 Lars Peter Nissen: And I think that's what we're going to do. We're going to leave it there. Thank you for your powerful words. Thank you for your participation here. We always talk about working with the private sector or the tech companies or whatever. I'm so happy that we have begun thinking about working with poets, with art, and maybe we can develop a new language and find new solutions because we do need new solutions to meet the challenges that are coming our way.
17:09 Ryan Matthews Robinson: Definitely.
17:10 Blaze Alexis Angling: Definitely.
17:11 Ryan Matthews Robinson: Appreciate it. Thanks for having us.
17:12 Tarik Brown: Thank you.